This invention relates to methods of monitoring the operational status of multiple transactions in a system, for example the progress of telephone calls in a public switched telephone network (PSTN), or of data transfers over the global computer network commonly referred to as the Internet,
Current PSTNs often comprise two networks operating in tandem: a transmission or bearer network for carrying actual voice and data signals, and a signalling network which is used to convey control information signals for establishing, monitoring and clearing respective connections for each communications transaction (such as a telephone call) between subscriber equipment over the transmission network. In many PSTNs the signalling network operates in accordance with the international standard Signalling System No. 7 (SS7).
In other networks, such as the Internet, the necessary control signalling may be combined with data. Thus, for example, in packet-switching systems the data (which may represent any of several kinds of user traffic, such as voice signals, graphical images or numerical data) are divided into packets each of which is transmitted independently over the network and has a xe2x80x98headerxe2x80x99 associated with it. The header contains control information which identifies the communications transaction to which it relates (for example by identifying the intended recipient) and enables intermediate network equipment to route the packet appropriately towards its destination.
In order to monitor and maintain the operation of communications systems, it is desirable to be able to collect control information, collate it and display summaries. This may be done, for example, by connecting a passive monitoring device to a signalling link (in the case of an SS7 signalling network) to collect copies of control messages traversing the link. Examination of specific data fields within each message enables different messages relating to the same communications transaction to be correlated, and listed together.
Conventional monitoring devices simply list the messages in the order of occurrence, detailing the contents of each message either as received (e.g. in binary digits) or by a simple abbreviation or mnemonic label. These devices have the disadvantage that they either provide so much information that the user is overwhelmed, or they are restricted to providing information on too few calls to provide a clear indication of the actual call characteristics. It is an object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus of monitoring multiple communications transactions which alleviates these problems.
According to one aspect of this invention there is provided a method of monitoring operational status of multiple transactions in a system, each transaction having associated with it multiple successive operational events, comprising the steps of:
acquiring event data from the system relating to multiple operational events in respect of each of multiple transactions;
obtaining from said event data information indicative of the nature of each event;
processing said information to determine the nature of the respective event; and
creating a display showing each successive event relating to a transaction on a respective axis for that transaction, and modifying a graphical component of the display to indicate the nature of each event.
According to another aspect of this invention there is provided apparatus for monitoring operational status of multiple transactions in a system, each transaction having associated with it multiple successive operational events, comprising:
a data acquisition device for acquiring event data from the system relating to multiple operational events in respect of each of multiple transactions;
a processor for obtaining from said event data information indicative of the nature of each event, and for processing said information to determine the nature of the respective event; and
a display controller for displaying each successive event relating to a transaction on respective axis for that transaction, and modifying a graphical component of the display to indicate the nature of each event.